1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic commerce and, in particular, a method and system for the trading of electricity services and dynamic routing of electric power based on settled trades.
2. Description of the Related Art
The North American power grid is an interconnected system of many regional power grids, i.e., electric power transmission and distribution systems. Each transmission and power distribution system is traditionally owned and operated by an electric utility and includes a generating system, a transmission system, a distribution system, and a control center. The interconnection of the transmission systems forms the power grid and permits the interchange of electricity between the various electric utilities. The electric utilities have generally operated as vertically integrated local monopolies by producing or purchasing electric power to serve all the users within the geographic boundaries of their transmission and distribution system. Presently, almost all end users purchase electric power from their local electric utilities serving their geographic areas.
The control center of each regional power grid monitors the generating plants, transmission systems, distribution systems, and customer loads. The control center may also provide automatic control of field equipment, for example, in response to an emergency shutdown of a generating facility.
Recent Federal legislative and regulatory activities and market place forces are significantly changing the electric power industry such that the traditional monopolistic attributes of electric utilities are yielding to free market forces. Several states have adopted legislations to deregulate the electric power industry. The legisation has created three types of participants within each transmission and distribution system previously controlled by one vertically integrated electric utility: electric power generators, transmission companies, and distribution companies.
One of the primary aims of electric power deregulation efforts is to reduce energy prices to customers by introducing competition among power generators and other service providers (Power generators include resellers or companies that own generating facilities). As competition increases, power generators are expected to offer prospective customers various pricing plans premised, for example, on volume and term commitments, and peak/off-peak usage.
Under current deregulation schemes, local distribution company facilities of the local electric utility will continue to be a government-regulated monopoly within the region it serves. These facilities are primarily the wires and other equipment constituting the local power grid over which electric power is transmitted to end user locations.
To date, an active wholesale market exists for electric power. Power generators, distribution companies, resellers, independent traders and brokers actively buy and sell electric power in a wholesale market. A power generator may wish to sell excess generating capacity not required for its own operations or not contractually committed to any customer, or may need to purchase additional power to satisfy its generating commitments. A local electric utility may need to sell excess generating capacity (from its own generating plants) or buy power from nearby utilities, resellers, traders or brokers to cover a shortfall in its own supply (e.g., during certain peak periods). Resellers and traders may need to fulfill take-or-pay or supply contracts they have with power generators, local utilities or each other or to trade derivatives based on speculation about the future price of power in the spot market.
Under the current scheme, consumers may make individual contracts with power suppliers or may group together in a power exchange to collectively buy power. An operator of the power exchange will assess the next day's power supply requirements by asking power generators (all entities willing to supply electric power to the exchange) to submit asking prices for specifies quantities of power to be delivered to the power grid during each hour of the next day. Starting with the lowest asking price, the exchange operator matches the assessed needs for power against the offered power on an hourly basis until it has sufficient power to meet the assessed needs.
In the wholesale power market, the power must be transferred over the interconnected transmission systems or regional power grids. Buyers typically take title to the purchased electric power at well-established interfaces or transfer points on a regional power grid (e.g., the Oregon-California border). However, the purchase arrangement may call for title to be passed at some alternate point, such as (i) the point on the regional grid nearest the seller's generating facility or (ii) if the buyer is a local distribution company, the point(s) on its local grid where the grid interfaces with the power grids of neighboring utilities. Before this power can be delivered to the buyer at the agreed transfer point, the seller must schedule a “contract path” for this power to travel from the seller's generating facility (or the point at which the seller is to take title if the seller purchased this power from another source) to the transfer point. The buyer must, in turn, schedule a transmission path from the transfer point to the buyer's own grid interface (if the buyer, for example, is a local distribution utility) or, if the buyer is reselling this power to another party, to a transfer point agreed to by such other party. Scheduling contract or transmission paths is usually coordinated through the regional grid controller(s) for the power grids over which this power is to be transmitted. The regional grid controller manages one or more local power grids, keeping demand on the combined grid in balance with available supply at all times. Generally, the affected power grids are those owned and controlled by the electric utilities whose service areas are situated between the source of this power and the transfer point. The charges for transmission of the purchased power to and from the point at which title is passed are normally borne by the seller and buyer, respectively.
The present control systems do not allow users to automatically and dynamically route electric power based on settled trades in the spot market. Accordingly, an online trading system is required for automatically and dynamically configuring an electric network to route electric power between buyers and sellers as well as performing clearinghouse or settlement functions for the buyers and sellers.